Read on to hear about our first funding win, our upcoming and recent community events and to pay tribute to the island’s renewable energy pioneer Colin Palmer.
Join us for Xmas drinks, 17 Dec
Happening at the Portland Inn in Gurnard on 17 Dec at 7pm, please drop by to connect and toast the festive season together.
Funding Win
Isle of Wight Biosphere and Together 4 CIC are pleased to announce that they have been awarded £60,000 to inspire widespread community action towards climate change, protecting nature and the improvement of key social priorities for our Island. The funding comes from Centrica’s Energy For Tomorrow fund and involves a number of Partner Groups including The Isle of Wight Youth Trust, Green Isle of Wight and Grow Gurnard.
It will involve engaging seven pilot parishes to develop local projects and wider engagement with climate change action with three areas of focus: youth opportunity & wellbeing, local food and warmer homes across the Island. It will also provide a solar powered bore hole to bring water to the community farm at Grow Gurnard in a separate infrastructure project.
We have hired a part-time community co-ordinator, Freshwater resident Lucy Hardy, to co-ordinate this place based work. We would like to extend a big welcome to Lucy to the community! Would your parish be interested in learning about this pilot project? Can you get involved at a local level to help such projects get off the ground? If so, please reach out to Lucy at lucy@togetherformissionzero.co.uk to find out more.
Great work at Niton Primary School
In September, Richard Quigley MP joined members of the island’s Mission Zero Education Hub and the University of Reading’s Climate Ambassadors South East team at Niton Primary School to celebrate their fantastic sustainability work. From pupil-led Eco Club tours to wildflower meadow plans and energy-saving ideas — Niton’s students are proving that climate action can start in the classroom. A big thank you to Ben Given, Sustainability Lead at Niton Primary, Climate Ambassadors and islanders Amy Moram, Dr Andrew Lee and Joe Redston for making this visit happen.
Engaging with our Young People at Cowes Enterprise College
How can we encourage dialogue across generations about the future we want? How do we start thinking about our island’s Biosphere designation and what it means for our places?
How do we empower young people to lead for positive change? These were the aims of the second follow-on workshop held Cowes Enterprise College on 14 October in collaboration with Connecting Cowes and the IOW Youth Trust. In the workshop, Cowes Mayor Stuart Ellis and the deputy Mayor Lora Peacey- Wilcox worked alongside fourteen students to share their ideas about the future of Cowes. The ideas produced by the young people will go out to wider school consultation and results will be integrated into the Connecting Cowes place-making programme. Our thanks to staff and pupils at Cowes Enterprise College and all collaborators on this project.
Exciting conversations in West Wight
On 7 November, we collaborated with Freshwater resident Lucy Hardy in hosting a viewing of Actionism– a short film about collective action, community and moving from feeling stuck to doing something together. After the film viewing, attendees discussed the importance of community, fun and collaboration when addressing environmental and social issues; reducing polarisation through building compassion and local connections. The group made a commitment to meet again to identify how they might continue the discussion and explore potential collaborative projects in West Wight. Exciting times ahead!
Tribute to Colin Palmer 1948-2025
The TFMZ community would like to pay tribute to Colin Palmer who passed away peacefully on 9 November 9, 2025 at his home on the island. Colin was a renewable energy pioneer who established Wight Community Energy; a community benefit society dedicated to delivering community-owned renewable energy and low carbon projects on the island. Colin supported our TFMZ work with generosity; sharing his expertise on the island’s energy infrastructure at one of our first events at MHI Vestas. He also volunteered his time as a member of the Mission Zero Energy Hub. Please share your memories of Colin through the link here.
That’s all our news for now. If you have any questions or thoughts on any of the above, please don’t hesitate to reach out on info@togetherformissionzero.co.uk. We would love to hear from you.
We looking forward to seeing you and to toasting the festive season together on 17 Dec!